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Mohammad Amir granted UK visa

Lahore—Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir has been granted a UK visa and will travel with the team on June 18 for their tour of England and Ireland, the PCB announced on Thursday.
Amir was picked in Pakistan’s 17-member squad for a four-Test series, which starts at Lord’s from July 14. But there had been concerns whether he would be granted a UK visa after his involvement in the 2010 spot-fixing case, for which he was given a six-month jail sentence in England and a five-year suspension from the ICC.
The PCB had filed an application for Amir’s visa on May 20 and was confident of an approval, which eventually came after 21 days; his application was also supported by the ECB. Amir had earlier applied for a UK visa in a personal capacity in 2014, but his request was rejected.
Amir is likely to make his Test comeback in the first match at Lord’s, where the spot-fixing scandal occurred in August 2010. The bowler, on his first tour of England at the time, was the highest wicket-taker for Pakistan in the four-Test series, with 19 wickets at an average of 18.36.
He also shared the Player-of-the-Series award with Jonathan Trott. In the preceding MCC Spirit of Cricket Series, Amir took 11 wickets in two matches against Australia.—Agencies